Naug Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 Winter in Taiwan is humid! Average RH is 85% and since it is not hot enough for AC our house is running about 71% RH. I've got two humidors and one larger storeador, the storeador has 8 mostly full boxes (say 175 sticks) and 4 60 gram 65% boveda's. The RH fluctuates like mad. The storeador is one of the sealed jobs and seems to seal as well or better than a humidor. Now I'm no greenhorn to cigar storage. Back in the JRBB, Herfers Paradise, and pre-marriage heyday I had two coolerdors with well over 1000 sticks using florist foam and 50/50 pg h2o. RH was measured with a Radio Shack humidistat that was popular in the late 90's. These were in the basement of my home in Portland OR where it was rarely over 50% RH. Yeah it is wet in Portland fall winter and spring, but with the heat always on the RH stayed low. Ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shlomo Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 Boveda out, beads in. Temp? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naug Posted January 30, 2018 Author Share Posted January 30, 2018 5 minutes ago, shlomo said: Boveda out, beads in. Temp? Average temp is about 72F Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shlomo Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 Is 72 pretty stable or does it fluctuate considerably? If stable, it would be bizarre that your RH should fluctuate a bunch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naug Posted January 30, 2018 Author Share Posted January 30, 2018 22 minutes ago, shlomo said: Is 72 pretty stable or does it fluctuate considerably? If stable, it would be bizarre that your RH should fluctuate a bunch. It's somewhat stable. Weather in Taichung is all over the place this time of year. We'll have a week of sun and cool (by Taiwan standards) 16 - 24 c, followed by a week of rain. While our home is very nice by Taiwan standards the climate control doesn't do automatic well. So this means the temp probably fluctuating between 21 - 24 c. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dicko Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 3 hours ago, shlomo said: Boveda out, beads in. Why take the boveda out? Because of the fact they are 65% specifically or do you prefer beads to boveda? I ask because I changed to boveda packs (65% as well actually) from beads a couple of years ago and have found greatly improved stability in my humidor. I'm just interested in hearing someone's thoughts on boveda that might be critical. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naug Posted January 30, 2018 Author Share Posted January 30, 2018 1 hour ago, dicko said: Why take the boveda out? Because of the fact they are 65% specifically or do you prefer beads to boveda? I ask because I changed to boveda packs (65% as well actually) from beads a couple of years ago and have found greatly improved stability in my humidor. I'm just interested in hearing someone's thoughts on boveda that might be critical. I was wondering about this too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Presidente Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 Test and measure. Test an measure. I have no idea why somethings work. Amazingly, what often works in one humidor doesn't work in another. Boveda are set and forget (for a period). Beads require some level of interaction and monitoring. I use beads generally. I overload with beads. Works for my desk tops. I can only suggest to put in fresh beads. Lots of them (I use a sock). Naturally, don't add distilled water. Monitor and measure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colt45 Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 4 hours ago, dicko said: Why take the boveda out? If you are trying to reduce such a humid environment, it is counterproductive to add moisture (boveda packs). I'm another for dry beads in this situation. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naug Posted January 30, 2018 Author Share Posted January 30, 2018 5 hours ago, El Presidente said: Test and measure. Test an measure. I have no idea why somethings work. Amazingly, what often works in one humidor doesn't work in another. Boveda are set and forget (for a period). Beads require some level of interaction and monitoring. I use beads generally. I overload with beads. Works for my desk tops. I can only suggest to put in fresh beads. Lots of them (I use a sock). Naturally, don't add distilled water. Monitor and measure. 4 hours ago, Colt45 said: If you are trying to reduce such a humid environment, it is counterproductive to add moisture (boveda packs). I'm another for dry beads in this situation. So dry beads in a sock? Like I can find gel beads in Taiwan! Two things happened today.... My home office is a (mostly) all glass type that looks down on a famous park called Maple Garden, and no that is not the Chinese name, and yes I can say the Chinese name, and no I can't write the Chinese name! I'm a barely literate carpenter from Oregon for ****`s sake. This was going to be simple, but my 5 yo threw up and kind of derailed things. Back to those two things! My mostly glass office has a bunch of built in shelves/cabinets. Moved all humidors into a cabinet shut the door and waited. Wait a minute, I put the dual function humistat/thermometer in first... temp remained constant... now the humidors moved in. Set the office thermostat to 20 (which results in 23 when in heat mode - why? Taiwan that's why) and so far so good! The second thing? It's cold and rainy like ****ing Portland Oregon so smoking on the office balcony is a no go! Soon it will be hot.... Yes my precious it will! Good night from Taichung naug - bigs, wcp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colt45 Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 44 minutes ago, Naug said: So dry beads in a sock? Like I can find gel beads in Taiwan! Sock, nylon stocking, etc. A suitably sized tupper type container, holes in lid, mesh or open cell foam to keep the beads from falling all over the place. You could also get one or a few of these from our friend Mark: http://www.hbshumidifiers.com/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitchen Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 Boveda does make a high absorption 49% pack for guitars. Perhaps a music store would have them? I would certainly monitor the progress and not put them directly on the cigars, but I would assume they will suck the humidity out of the air. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laxman Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 Gotta go the Beads!! Toss the Boveda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mycroft Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 This is what I would do. 1. Calibrate the humidistat by putting it in a sealed tupperware container with a 65% boveda for a day. It should read exactly 65% give or take 1%. 2. Get a big tupperware container that seals well. Fill with cigars and put in humidistat. Leave for at least 24 hours. See where the humidity stabilizes. Now you know what you are working with. 3. Assuming the humidity is higher than 65 you need to get the moisture out of the cigars. Put dry beads into the sealed box. Humidity should drop. When it has dropped a bit below 65 , take the beads out and see what humidity the cigars alone stabilise at. Repeat this until the cigars stabilize at 65. 4. Put 65% boveda into the sealed tupperware box with the dried out cigars. This should now stay at 65%. 5. Toss the humidor and use the tupperware. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poorman Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 Highly recommend HBS. http://www.hbshumidifiers.com/ Just replaced a few that were five years old. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naug Posted January 30, 2018 Author Share Posted January 30, 2018 7 hours ago, Colt45 said: Sock, nylon stocking, etc. A suitably sized tupper type container, holes in lid, mesh or open cell foam to keep the beads from falling all over the place. You could also get one or a few of these from our friend Mark: http://www.hbshumidifiers.com/ The sock part is pretty clear. I assume the sock is filled with dry beads to absorb excess moisture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naug Posted January 30, 2018 Author Share Posted January 30, 2018 With regard to the gel beads, any special ones to get? Just pickup a pack of floral gel beads from Amazon? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fitzy Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 I use the heartfelt one's. You can also buy a cheap pair of panty hose. Fill the foot and then tie it off and cut it above the knot. http://www.heartfeltindustries.com/products.asp?cat=65%+Rh+Humidity+Beads Also for some of my boxes I use a 74 quart container store weathertight tote. It seems to be pretty air tight: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gamehawker Posted January 31, 2018 Share Posted January 31, 2018 13 hours ago, fitzy said: I use the heartfelt one's. You can also buy a cheap pair of panty hose. Fill the foot and then tie it off and cut it above the knot. http://www.heartfeltindustries.com/products.asp?cat=65%+Rh+Humidity+Beads Also for some of my boxes I use a 74 quart container store weathertight tote. It seems to be pretty air tight: Can you mix equal parts 65% beads and 60% beads to come up with 62 1/2% beads? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fitzy Posted January 31, 2018 Share Posted January 31, 2018 1 hour ago, Gamehawker said: Can you mix equal parts 65% beads and 60% beads to come up with 62 1/2% beads? Hmmm never thought of that. I don't think so as I think the 65% beads will suck the humidity out of the 60% beads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeman Posted January 31, 2018 Share Posted January 31, 2018 We can airlift our spent Bovedas to Taiwan! To those of us North we pray for humidity (and heat too). Clearly a case of be careful what you wish for. I think it's far easier to introduce humidity than remove it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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